• He let out a sigh of gratitude. “I said, are you ok, you old communist?” “Well enough to take you on Reginald” groaned Dimitri. Dimitri and Reginald had a love hate relationship; the hate wasn’t too violent and thankfully, neither was the love. “I think they went a bit far this time Dimitri…” muttered Reginald.

    Later that week, quietly sipping his coffee, Dimitri mulled over his pile of exams to mark. He was an English teacher and a damn good one; his students went on to be the best of the best – some even going so far as to almost supersede him. But that didn’t bother him; he quite enjoyed the idea of it. This was his first year working at the reputable school “Lords Arch”… and the happenings there were plaguing his mind.

    Reginald had started working at Lords Arch a year and a half before Dimitri (which he never let him forget), so he was more at ease with the students and teachers, most fondly referred to him by his nickname Regi (but Dimitri preferred to taunt him with his full name). But while Regi was the crook, Dimitri was the whip. He didn’t try to ‘coddle’ the students, because it was his understanding that they were here to learn English, not play around, and their parents were paying a shiny penny to send them here. But Dimitri wasn’t a cruel teacher, no, his methods had more tact that that. Because what’s the best way to get back at a teacher that doesn’t seem to think you are good enough? Simple, show him you are by acing every test of your skills. This is the ‘attack’ most of his students try. They dislike him when they study under him, but most thank him later in their life, when they are successful and remember those who helped them get there and in their time of need.

    And then, there are the ones who simply loath him for his methods, mostly students but with a few parents thrown in. usually they just voice their opinions in the form of letters sent to his desk. But earlier this week things got a little more ‘solid’.

    He had been listening to some smooth jazz on his iPod with the speaker dock he had gotten as a gift last Christmas from a colleague. A screech of tyres startled him out of his trance he always put himself into while marking work, said it helped him work out who was cheating. As he opened his front door a small brick was thrown into his front living room, landing square in the middle of the LCD TV he had purchased a fortnight ago. A few hasty Russian curses issued themselves from his lips as he crossed the room to survey the damage, turning off the iPod as he went. The TV was destroyed and although he was usually a tolerant man he started shaking with an unknown rage. He hastily called Regi and told him what had happened and hung up after Reginald had promised to come right over. He sighed and returned to the living room. He just had time to register a foot flying towards him, with attached Doc Martins, before he fell to the floor unconscious.

    Later that night he awoke to Regi’s worried attempts to awaken Dimitri. “Are you ok Dimitri? Wake up”. He looked around again at the smashed window and TV. “Dammit, they’ll pay for this…”

    Later, during a meeting of the various teachers, the students involved and their teachers, things got interesting.
    The students simply glared at each other for some un-known reason. “How do you know it was our boy?” cried out one of the parents, followed by cheers of agreement. “Simple” stated Dimitri “your children are the only ones failing this year, everyone else is doing wonderful and why would they have a grudge against someone helping them do so well?” “But that doesn’t prove they did it!” cried one parent. Dimitri barely held back a grin. “Well, to get them to confess…I bluffed. I told them that I had recognised them and that if they told me who else was involved that the fall would be easier for them. They all took the bait and crucified each other” there was a sudden outburst from the students as they realised they had all been played for chumps.

    After the parents left with their sons and daughters, chastising them as they went and the teachers had gone back to their individual desks, Reginald came up to Dimitri, a look of amazement on his face. “Did you really get them to throw each other to the lions without any of them realising?” “Easy as pie” said Dimitri, nodding his head with a large smirk “Easy as pie”.